Archives

We (LeeAnn Barnes Gordon and Suzanne Davis) are pleased to announce a new conservation workshop session at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). This year’s session will be held on Friday, Nov. 16th from 4:20 – 6:25 pm at the Chicago Marriot Downtown Magnificent Mile, and we would like to encourage …

Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Working Group – Sculpture, Polychromy, and Architectural Decorations Hosted by Tomar Polytechnic Institute Tomar, Portugal 28-29 May 2013 This two day symposium will focus on artistic tradition within the field of polychrome sculpture relating to decorative practice. After two symposiums on construction techniques (Maastricht 2010 and Glasgow 2012), the main …

Joint Interim Conference of three ICOM-CC working groups: Wood, Furniture, and Lacquer Scientific Research Sculpture, Polychromy, and Architectural Decoration National Museum in Warsaw, Poland 28-30 October, 2013 Hosted in collaboration with the National Museum in Warsaw, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw The conference entitled “Heritage Wood: Research and Conservation in the 21st …

Feel free to ask questions about materials and techniques that you’re encountering for the first time, or for advice on specific objects If you’re struggling to locate a specific material or piece of equipment and want to know where other conservators go shopping, just ask. Or if you know about job opportunities, student placements or …

Israeli-American artist Izhar Patkin’s work combines traditional painting and sculpture with nontraditional techniques.  In 1986 he completed his work, The Black Paintings, a series of twenty-two pleated neoprene panels painted with images based on Jean Genet’s play, “The Blacks: A clown show.”  The 14′ long panels hang side by side to create a 28′ x 22′ …

Emily Kaplan (Presenter), Objects Conservator, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; email: kaplane@si.edu Ellen Howe, Conservator, Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation, Metropolitan Museum of Art; email: ellen.howe@metmuseum.org Ellen Pearlstein, Associate Professor, Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, UCLA; email: epearl@ucla.edu Judith Levinson, Director of Conservation, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History; …

Perhaps better known as a medium used in biological studies, agar is gaining traction in the conservation profession as an ingredient for building poultices. The material, a combination of the polysaccharides agarose and agaropectin derived from the cell walls of an alge, is widely available, both in a highly purified form through laboratory supply houses …

ECPN interviews emerging conservators authoring personal and class blogs Steven O’Banion, Winterthur / University of Delaware, Class of 2012 Tell us a little about yourself-your background, where you’re working now and what you do in your current position? My undergraduate degree is in Biochemistry.  However, my love for art and museums lead me to apply …

One of the reasons I enjoy joint sessions is the more focused theme and connection between the talks. Laura provided a nice overview of the research that she carried at out at SAAM on marble coatings. Three white marble sculptures in the collection- by Rinehart, Cooper, and Houdon- attract a lot of attention and love …

After70 years on  permanent display, the taxidermy at AMNH got a much needed renovation. It was beautiful to see the artistry behind the construction and design of the original dioramas. This talk focused on the fading and discoloration of the fur and hair of the animals. The care that was taken in reproducing details from …

After hearing about this project in the past couple of years, I was looking forward to learning more about the evolution of this 16 year collaboration and some of the observations and conclusions that have come out of it. I applaud the original participants (including conservators: Emily Kaplan, Ellen Pearlstein, Ellen Howe and Judith Levinson) …

In the second talk during the OSG luncheon, Suzanne Davis and Claudia Chemello explored the question “are archaeologists and conservators so far away from each other?”, inspired by the sentiment of the Dire Straits song “So Far Away”. Their talk was illustrated with historic photographs of archaeologists working in Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey in the …

This year’s OSG luncheon featured 2 archaeological-focused talks, each sprinkled with pop-culture references. Vanessa Muros spoke first-a presentation titled “Holy Mammoth Batman! Conservation Education and Outreach for the Preservation of a Columbian Mammoth,” which was co-authored by Allison Lewis. This presentation addressed the issues and challenges of training archaeologists in conservation techniques, and covered some …

Presenter: Paul Benson Sulfur is well known as an agent of deterioration associated with atmospheric pollution, but sulfur was, and still is, intentionally introduced into buildings as part of the construction process, and is a part of some objects in museum collections. This presentation by Paul Benson was tremendously informative about how sulfur may be …

“Always Becoming”, an outdoor sculpture installation at the National Museum of American Indian (NMAI), was the focus of the presentation by Artist Nora Naranjo-Morse, NMAI Collections Manager Gail Joice and NMAI Conservator Kelly McHugh.  Like the work of art “Always Becoming”, this presentation was engaging, thoughtful and inspiring. Nora Naranjo-Morse, a member of the Tewa …